Have you ever wondered how National Geographic photographers always manage to capture such unbelievable photos? As a so called “gearhead” I can tell you this, it is surely not due to photo equipment, but talent, many years of experience and a healthy portion of ambition. But even so, when you make a point of pushing boundaries and taking photos, which have never been taken before, you are bound to run into a challenge sooner or later, which may seem unsolvable at first glance. Every time when a NatGeo photographer reaches a dead end and cannot bring a photo project to fruition with off-the-shelf photo equipment, NatGeo’s master photographic engineer, Mr. Kanji Yamaguchi, has a solution on hand. The following video is about this humble man, without whose contribution many breathtaking photos would have never been made in the first place.

A good example are these images of big cats, which photographer Steve Winter couldn’t have made without Mr. Yamaguchi’s custom-made camera traps.